Quote Originally Posted by tricil View Post
The latest version, aka “Music”

my rip from Apple Music sounds muted but my XLD rip sounds brighter and fuller.
Oh, Mac? iTunes absolutely applies de-emphasis unless we're talking a 15+ year old computer. Also, the more muted rip should (always) be correct when comparing pre-emphasis/de-emphasis rips.

It's much harder to tell on something like this, but instantly stands out in genres like Jazz, or brass-heavy music.